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Speakers' profiles

KPMG Global Energy Conference - Speakers’ profiles

Dr. Yotaro Akamine

Associate Partner, KPMG in Japan

Yotaro Akamine has a variety of consulting and Industrial business experience. He has directed an industrial segment for Smart Grid at ABB Japan and management consultancy experience at Booz and Company.

He started his business career as a strategist for Tokyo Electric Power Company after he received his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering, Energy at the University of Tokyo. He was invited by the Japanese Government (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) as a temporary committee member for the Home Energy Management System task force to help develop a standardisation policy.

Yotaro has written many business articles and has also made several presentations about Smart Grid / Smart Cities businesses.

Michael J. Andrew

Chairman, KPMG International

Michael J. Andrew was elected Chairman, KPMG International in 2011. Located in Hong Kong he is the first Chairman of one of the “big four” accounting firms to be based in the Asia-Pacific region, a key area of growth for KPMG member firms’ audit, tax and advisory services.

Michael is actively engaged in shaping the future direction of KPMG’s member firm network which employs 152,000 professionals in 156 countries. He has been a member of KPMG’s Global Board and Council since 2007, was involved in the development of KPMG’s Global Strategy and was a member of its Global Governance Review in 2008.

A partner in KPMG since 1988, Michael was Chairman of KPMG Asia-Pacific and Chairman, KPMG Australia until 2011. Prior to that he held top level roles in KPMG Australia including Deputy Chairman and Managing Partner of KPMG Melbourne.

Martin Armistead

Director, Advisory, KPMG in Singapore

Martin Armistead is the regional lead for KPMG’s operational strategy work in the Asia-Pacific region, providing performance transformation, decision support and transaction advice for corporate and private equity clients. He helped establish KPMG’s market leading operational strategy team in London and has relocated to Singapore to focus on serving clients in the Asia-Pacific region and building local capability.

He has experience across a variety of energy businesses. These include refining, fuels and lubricants sales & marketing, petrochemicals and technology development, developing and delivering performance improvement programmes, as well as the enhancing of the value from transactions.

Chan Eng Kiat has more than 35 years of experience in the utility business. He joined the then Electricity Department of Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore in 1975 and served in various areas including Power System Protection, System Commissioning and Distribution Operation & Maintenance.

With the privatisation of Electricity Department of PUB in 1995, he was appointed Managing Director of Power Automation Pte Ltd, a joint-venture company of Singapore Power and Siemens AG which provides solutions for Power System Control and Substation Automation systems in Asia-Pacific.

Eng Kiat returned to SP PowerGrid in 2004 as General Manager (Regulatory & Network Planning). He joined the Energy Market Authority in 2009 as Specialist and Project Director (Intelligent Energy System) taking charge of the Smart Grid project in Singapore.

Foong Chong Lek

Associate Director, Singapore Exchange (SGX)

Foong Chong Lek is an Associate Director with SGX. His job scope covers marketing and business development for the mineral, oil and gas sectors, including upstream exploration and production. In addition, one of his main responsibilities is to attract new listings, using an approach that builds on Singapore’s status as a commodities hub. To that end, he speaks at conferences, organises seminars, and works with professionals and prospective issuers to raise awareness of listing on SGX.

Prior to SGX, Chong Lek has held several positions in the private equity and venture capital industries.

Chong Lek is a Chemical Engineering graduate from Purdue University in the United States of America. He subsequently earned his Masters of Business Administration at INSEAD Singapore.

Neil MacDonald

Head of Project Finance, Asia Pacific, J.P. Morgan

Neil MacDonald is the Head of Project Finance, Asia Pacific for J.P. Morgan based in Singapore. Responsible for leading project and commodity finance transactions across Asia Pacific in the energy, mining & metals sectors, Neil is a structured debt specialist who has advised on, originated, executed and distributed structured debt across a variety of industry sectors, geographies and products.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, he headed RBS’ Infrastructure Finance team in Sydney. He started his career with ANZ in London and relocated to Sydney with ANZ in 2000. Outside banking, Neil established a boutique consulting firm and has facilitated training courses on corporate finance, strategy and sustainability. He holds a BSc. in Economics from the University of Bath, England.

Alex Muir

Regional Director APAC, BP Singapore Pte Ltd

A dynamic leader with a passion for performance improvement within organisations, Alex Muir has vast experience driving change across the upstream and downstream business within BP. He is also familiar with global operations, having worked in over 15 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Alex has a proven track record of delivering value across all aspects of the value chain. He is a founding member of Sustainable Performance Improvement (SPI) within BP and sits on BP’s functional leadership team. SPI is a shared services function in BP, which focuses on helping businesses drive performance improvement across all aspects of financial, commercial and operational performance. Currently, Alex is accountable for the leadership and delivery of SPI in Asia.

Pek Hak Bin

Head of Energy & Natural Resources, KPMG in Singapore

Pek Hak Bin is the head of the Energy and Natural Resources practice at KPMG in Singapore. Earlier this year, the 48-year-old stepped down as the Country President and Chairman for BP operations in Singapore.

An Accountancy graduate of the Nanyang Technological University, Hak Bin has worked in different disciplines of the energy industry in a career spanning more than 20 years. He has spent three years in Halliburton Energy Services and 15 years in BP. Hak Bin is a well-known energy specialist in Asia. He spent five years in China pioneering BP’s investments into China, headed BP Thailand for three years and headed BP Singapore in the last six years.

Gustavo Penas

VP Controller – Finance Operations, Shell Business Service Centres

Gustavo Penas is a VP Controller (Finance Operations) at Shell Business Service Centres. Based in Malaysia, he is responsible for the robustness of the control framework, process and controls design and support (E2E) and the planning and appraisal processes. He is also in-charge of relationship management with internal and external auditors, IMIT interfaces and Business Continuity Management.

Prior to working in Malaysia, Gustavo was CFO and Deputy CEO of Salym Petroleum Development in Moscow. He started his career with Edesur as the Budget and Control Head of Department and was also the Treasury and Capital markets analyst. Gustavo holds a Master in Business Administration from University of CEMA and is also a Chartered Public Accountant from University of Buenos Aires.

Masakazu Toyoda is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ).

He began his career in 1973 with Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and his experience in trade, energy and environment is extensive.

In 2003, he was named Director-General of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau. In 2006, he became the Director-General of the Trade Policy Bureau and was subsequently made Vice-Minister for international affairs the following year.

When he was with the Trade Policy Bureau, the law graduate from the University of Tokyo contributed to the creation of APEC and the launch of the Doha developmental round, among other achievements.

Gary Webster

Partner, Global Infrastructure Advisory, KPMG in Canada

Gary Webster is a professional engineer with over 30 years of experience. He specialises in the organisation, procurement and implementation of large scale infrastructure projects and possesses experience in both public and private sectors. He has led the business case assessment, procurement and contract implementation stages for a number of large programmes that have included all forms of contracting, from conventional delivery through to some of the largest concessions in Canada. His experience also includes programme optimisation systems, regulatory processes, risk assessment, engineering, construction and asset management in programmes up to $7 billion in scale. Gary is currently providing strategic advice on over $20 billion worth of infrastructure programmes in the transportation, mining and energy sectors.

Nobuyuki Higashi

Executive Officer for Asia and Pacific, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)

Nobuyuki Higashi is the Executive Officer (Asia Pacific region) of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

In July 2011, Nobuyuki was appointed as the Chief for Planning and Strategy in the Infrastructure Finance Group of JBIC. On April 2012, he was appointed to his current position and moved to Singapore, where JBIC’s regional office in the Asia Pacific region is located.

Prior to this, Noboyuki was the Head of Asia and Oceania Finance Department in JBIC and conducted policy-based lending to promote Japanese trade and investment in the region. Before that, he was seconded to the International Energy Agency (IEA) as the analyst for investment and finance particularly in gas sector.

Nobuyuki was also the director of the natural resource finance department of the Export-Import Bank of Japan (former JBIC) from 1997 to 2001.

S Iswaran

Minister in Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry, Republic of Singapore

Mr. S Iswaran is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry, Republic of Singapore.

He has been elected as a Member of Parliament in four General Elections since 1997. From September 2004 to June 2006, he was the Deputy Speaker of Parliament.

Mr. Iswaran joined the Singapore Administrative Service in 1987, and held appointments in the Home Affairs and Education ministries. In 1991, he was seconded to the National Trades Union Congress. He was later appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Indian Development Association.

Mr. Iswaran graduated with First Class Honours in Economics from the University of Adelaide. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Eugene Leong oversees the development of Singapore’s oil refining, petrochemicals and specialty chemicals industries. He is involved in strategy formulation to develop Singapore’s Energy and Chemicals industry and also spearheads broader initiatives such as “Jurong Island version 2.0” to strengthen the industry.

Eugene was previously an Investment Manager with EDB’s investment subsidiary, EDB Investments Pte Ltd. He was responsible for investments in the petrochemicals and Clean Tech sectors, where he executed private equity investments, participated on Boards of investee companies and sought strategic divestments.

Eugene began his career in EDB as an industry development officer in the chemicals division. He obtained his Master of Chemical Engineering degree from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Engineering.

Eugene Leong oversees the development of Singapore’s oil refining, petrochemicals and specialty chemicals industries. He is involved in strategy formulation to develop Singapore’s Energy and Chemicals industry and also spearheads broader initiatives such as “Jurong Island version 2.0” to strengthen the industry.

Eugene was previously an Investment Manager with EDB’s investment subsidiary, EDB Investments Pte Ltd. He was responsible for investments in the petrochemicals and Clean Tech sectors, where he executed private equity investments, participated on Boards of investee companies and sought strategic divestments.

Eugene began his career in EDB as an industry development officer in the chemicals division. He obtained his Master of Chemical Engineering degree from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Engineering.

Shuji Miyasaka

Partner, KPMG in Japan

Shuji Miyasaka is a Partner with KPMG Management Consulting Co., Ltd. in Japan. He has more than 15 years of industry experiences as an executive consultant with Accenture and IBM. Shuji has deep knowledge in new business strategy design, strategic outsourcing, BPR (Business Process Reengineering), Smart Metering and Smart Grid space in the Power & Utility sector.

Hilda Mulock Houwer

Global Head of Advisory, Energy & Natural Resources, KPMG in the United Arab Emirates

She has led the redesign of the Business Intelligence function of the global ENR Group, developed the business model design for national oil companies and implemented cost optimisation techniques at several oil & gas and mining companies.

Hilda has 22 years of consulting and auditing experience in the oil & gas, energy and mining industries. She has provided advisory services across the entire oil & gas value chain and possesses deep knowledge of process transformation, change management, and financial process redesign.

She is also a qualified Chartered Accountant (South Africa) and her qualifications include Bachelors of Commerce (Honours) in Financial Management and Accountancy.

Satyanarayan R. (Satya)

Head of Government & Infrastructure, KPMG in Singapore

Satya R. is Executive Director with KPMG in Singapore and heads the firm’s Corporate Finance practice. He is also KPMG Asia Pacific’s Head of Government and Infrastructure.

Satya has close to three decades of experience and has led transformational engagements advising governments and private sector players in the Asia Pacific region on public-private partnerships, joint ventures and value based management initiatives.

Hendi Prio Santoso

President Director & CEO, PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) Tbk

Hendi Prio Santoso is President Director & CEO of PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) Tbk. He was appointed Director of Finance on 31 May 2007, and became President Director on 13 June 2008.

Prior to that, he was the Director of Investment Banking at PT JP Morgan Securities Indonesia from 2004 to 2007. From 2001 to 2004, Hendi served as the Director of PT Anugra Cipta Investa.

Hendi started his career with Bank Niaga in 1990. In 1991, he joined Citibank NA, Indonesia and was appointed as Vice President of PT Perdana Multi Finance in 1996. From 1998 to 2001, he was an Associate Director at PT Bahana Securities.

He graduated with degrees in finance and economics from the University of Houston, Texas, and in economics from the University of Texas in the United States of America.

Jordan Schwartz

Manager, Infrastructure Policy, The World Bank

Jordan Schwartz, The World Bank’s Manager for Infrastructure Policy, is based at the Bank’s global hub in Singapore. He is also Head of the World Bank’s Global Expert Team on Trade Facilitation & Logistics. Jordan has worked in the field of economic development for over 20 years, focusing on infrastructure planning and strategy, PPPs, logistics, regulation, and region al integration.

Prior to his current position, Jordan served as Lead Economist for Sustainable Development in the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean Region.

Jordan is also an author and frequent speaker on topics in economics, finance and regulation. He holds a Master of Science from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service where he studied development economics and a B.A. from Tufts University.

Juvanus Tjandra

Partner, Advisory, KPMG in Singapore

Juvanus Tjandra is a Partner in KPMG’s Management Consulting practice in Singapore and leads the Shared Services and Outsourcing advisory team.

With over 17 years of experience, he has dealt with sourcing initiatives involving business critical processes gained from undertaking numerous location analysis studies for large industrial companies in Europe. He also developed sourcing (shared services and outsourcing) business cases for large MNCs in Europe and the US region as well as the Sourcing Target Operating Model for global Financial Services, Pharmaceuticals, Energy & Mining and Telecommunication clients in the ASPAC region.

He also routinely speaks at management and industry conferences. Juvanus holds a Masters of Finance from University of Technology Sydney with Distinction average and Bachelor of Business from the same University.

Didik Sasongko Widi

Vice President LNG, PT Pertamina (Persero)

Didik Sasongko Widi is the Vice President of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) business at PT Pertamina (Persero) and has served in this position since September 2012.

He is charge of the commercial, sales, transportation and trading activities at LNG. Having 10 years of experience in the LNG Business, Didik is now focusing on expanding PT Pertamina (Persero)’s business in LNG.

Didik obtained his master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Indonesia in 1998 and graduate certificate in Engineering Management from Queensland University of Technology in 1998.

Sharad Somani

ASPAC Head of Power & Utilities, KPMG in Singapore

Sharad Somani is a Partner and leads the Power & Utilities network for KPMG in the region. He specialises in infrastructure and Project Finance, with experience across sectors including power, gas, water, broadband, industrial infrastructure, and transport. His skill set includes contract structuring, bid advisory, business planning, financial structuring and modelling, regulatory advisory, risk mitigation, project appraisal, fund syndication and negotiations with bankers for project financing.

Sharad has more than 15 years of experience and has worked across countries including India, Singapore, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Vietnam and Indonesia, amongst others. Some of the key projects he has previously led include Restructuring advisory to electricity Vietnam; IPP advisory in India, Oman, Saudi Arabia and South Africa; Changi NEWater PPP, Senoko Incineration plant divestment, Handan municipal water in China, and broadband advisory to IDA in Singapore.

Sharad has completed his Engineer in Electonics and MBA in Finance.

Dr. Timothy Stone

Global Senior Advisor, KPMG

Tim Stone is currently the Global Senior Advisor to KPMG Corporate Finance. For over six years, until the end of March 2013, he was also the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and he was the Expert Chair of the Office for Nuclear Development. He has also been a non-executive director of the European Investment Bank for over 10 years.

Tim spent 16 years as a Partner and the Founder and Chairman of KPMG’s Global Infrastructure and Projects Group. He handed over day-to-day running of the group in 2001 and since then focused on driving the group’s strategy and providing senior support to major projects.

Before that, Tim was a Director of S.G. Warburg & Co. and previously Chase Manhattan Bank, where he led and managed the global asset and tax-based finance teams. The former Oxford graduate led many engagements including ones for British Rail, Air France and SNCF.